Thurle Wright

Paper artist

©IgorEmmerich

Exploring language

Thurle used to be an English teacher
Her work is made using strips of paper
She is inspired by the texture of language

Thurle Wright’s craft is to link the material of paper with a sense of what literature conveys, by reconstructing pages of books. For two decades, she has been exploring the texture of words, visualising texts and representing them using craft techniques. With a degree in literature, Thurle became a teacher but found that it wasn’t enough and went to art school to explore her desire to find different means of expression. Her creativity kept pulling her back to language and English literature. She began to cut up documents and books to reconstruct them, questioning the linguistic systems and the inescapable web of language. Rearranging the deconstructed texts in patterns that reflect her sense of its texture, she draws attention to the gaps and spaces in meaning and feeling of language that goes deeper than words.

Interview

©IgorEmmerich

©IgorEmmerich

How do you visualise a text as a shape?: When we are reading, we are finding patterns. It is quite personal, but I suppose I visualise shapes, or textures, that match the text. If a text is intensely mathematical and structured, for me it will be a more rigid geometrical structure. Whereas a novel like Wuthering Heights is about a landscape of human emotions, so the texture will contain contours and rhythms.
Have you mastered your technique?: I shift from one technique to another. I don’t think I am a master craftsman in the sense of being obsessed with one specific technique. I love paper and am fascinated by what paper can do. But it is not just the paper that is important but also what the paper is for and what it conveys.
Who are you grateful to for helping your career?: I work with Jaggedart gallery in London, and they have helped me a lot. Andrea, the gallery owner, found me a long time ago and nurtured me and introduced my work to wide audiences. She has been a valuable mentor for more than a decade.
What do you like about your craft?: I am so lucky! It is a process which is calming and beautiful and, on another level, it is exciting not knowing how things will work out. I do feel that it is an incredible privilege to have the time to be able to do this work.

Thurle Wright is a master artisan: she began her career in 2002 and she started teaching in 2002